NZSO celebrates Matariki and more with exciting winter festival

News: 16 June 2021

NZSO media release.

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra presents a winter feast of extraordinary music in July, including three innovative back-to-back concerts in Auckland and Wellington, as part of its Immerse 2021 festival.

The festival features the world premiere of Ngā Hihi o Matariki, a unique musical celebration of Matariki. Performances of Igor Stravinsky's groundbreaking masterpiece The Rite of Spring and Dmitri Shostakovich's epic 'Leningrad' symphony, will be multimedia experiences, with each performance also featuring immersive real-time visuals from leading creative studio Nocturnal.

Images of Gareth Farr, Mere Boynton and Ariana Tikao are courtesy of the NZSO.

Matariki and The Rite of Spring, in association with New Zealand Listener, and NYO Leningrad in association with the Adam Foundation, are performed in Auckland 2-4 July and Wellington 9-11 July.

For each concert, the NZSO will be led by renowned New Zealand conductor Gemma New, recently profiled in The New York Times as one of a select group of young and talented conductors to watch.

Gareth Farr, one of Aotearoa New Zealand's leading composers, has partnered with two exceptional artists for Ngā Hihi o Matariki. Mere Boynton and Ariana Tikao have written the kupu and will join the Orchestra as the soloists for this unforgettable concert experience. Each have contributed Reo oro and Ariana will perform her own compositional elements on Taonga Pūoro.

For Matariki in Auckland and Wellington, the NZSO has made available 100 free tickets for groups and organisations who want to experience the Orchestra for the first time.

Acclaimed pianist Michael Houstoun will open The Rite of Spring with a selection of sublime works for piano by Chopin. This year marks 50 years since Michael began playing with the NZSO.

Stravinsky's groundbreaking The Rite of Spring, which premiered in 1913 as a ballet with legendary choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky, is one of the great composer's best-known and loved works.

Shostakovich's monumental Symphony No. 7 'Leningrad', famously performed during the Seige of Leningrad in the Second World War, will be performed by the NZSO National Youth Orchestra and, due to the scale of this magnificent work, members of the NZSO.

NYO Leningrad opens with the world premiere of Ephemeral Bounds by Ihlara McIndoe, the 2021 NZSO NYO Composer in Residence. Ihlara was inspired to write the piece after visiting Antarctica.

Open Doors, a series of free events proudly supported by the NZSO Foundation during the festival, will include NYO Playlist presented by National Youth Orchestra ensembles.

The two performances of 20^th and 21^st century works will be held at Auckland Town Hall Concert Chamber on 3 July and Wellington's Michael Fowler Centre's Renouf Foyer on 10 July at 4.30pm, prior to The Rite of Spring concerts.

Tickets to Matariki, The Rite of Spring and NYO Leningrad in Auckland and Wellington are available from ticketmaster.co.nz

Matariki

in association with New Zealand Listener

GEMMA NEW Conductor

ARIANA TIKAO Taonga Pūoro and Reo oro (vocalist)
MERE BOYNTON Reo oro (vocalist)

GARETH FARR Ngā Hihi o Matariki (World Premiere)
MERE BOYNTON Lyrics

ARIANA TIKAO Lyrics and Taonga Pūoro composition

AUCKLAND | Town Hall|Friday 2 July| 7.30pm

WELLINGTON | Michael Fowler Centre|Friday 9 July| 6.30pm

The Rite of Spring

in association with the New Zealand Listener

GEMMA NEW Conductor

MICHAEL HOUSTOUN Piano

NOCTURNAL Performance visuals

CHOPIN Polonaise in A Major, Op. 40 No. 1 Military

CHOPIN Nocturne in A-flat Major, Op. 32 No. 2

CHOPIN Valse in G-flat Major, Op. 70 No. 1

CHOPIN Mazurka in D Major, Op. 33 No. 2

CHOPIN Mazurka in C Major, Op. 67 No. 3

CHOPIN Prelude in A Major, Op. 28 No. 7

CHOPIN Valse in C-sharp Minor, Op. 64 No. 2

CHOPIN Grande Valse Brillante in E-flat Major, Op.18

STRAVINSKYThe Rite of Spring

AUCKLAND | Town Hall|Saturday 3 July| 7.30pm

WELLINGTON | Michael Fowler Centre|Saturday 10 July| 7.30pm

NYO Leningrad

in association with the Adam Foundation

GEMMA NEW Conductor

NOCTURNAL Performance visuals

IHLARA MCINDOEEphemeral Bounds (World Premiere)

SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 7 in C Major 'Leningrad'

AUCKLAND | Town Hall|Sunday 4 July| 2.00pm

WELLINGTON | Michael Fowler Centre|Sunday 11 July| 2.00pm

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